Natural Gourd Addition

[Don~VA]

Here are my new additions for this year in my continuing attempt to coax a few PM's to stay at my place Only put up two for now in case any early birds show up. The remaining four will go up shortly.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

My prediction is that they will use the brown gourds first if they can learn to enter them quickly. My only suggestion would be to add a porch, or even a tunnel with a porch, this tunnel is better owl protection.

I have been using gourds for a long time, and yours look nice

[Don~VA]

Thanks Emil. I always count on your predictions to come true This is my experiment for this year. If I see any problems with entry my next step is going to be adding porches. Also, depending on the interest, I may paint them white in future but I kinda like the natural color for now.

[James Johnson]

Don, the Naturals look great! What did you use to seal and finish them? If you intend to use porches better get them ready because the naturals will be used with or without porches. I have twelve natural gourds (four each under three different Trios) that have carved excluder entrances without porches. All twelve are sealed with Elastomeric Roof Coating and sprayed with white acrylic. Eight were used last season without any problem. ASY and AFY were able to enter the natural gourds as rapidly as those nesting in the Trios that have excluder entrances and porches. IMHO, appearance is in the eye of the beholder and adding yet another unnatural appendage to a natural gourd is not required for occupant safety or convenience. On the other hand, each landlord also has a level of comfort that must be satified. Porches or no porches What ever you do will be right. To each his own.

[Don~VA]

Hi James,
Thanks for your comments. I used light steel wool and two coats of BEHR Deck preservative. It has always performed well on my deck and outdoor furniture so I'm hoping it will do well on the gourds.
It sounds like you have a really nice setup. I like those Trios and hope to have one in the future and a dedicated gourd rack. Of course it all depends on the Martins

[James Johnson]

Don, Maintenance and recoat those puppies after each season and you will have Purple Martin heirlooms. Hang them and they will come! You may get some minor wear each year on the entrances that will need to be touched up. In the future if you should decide to try excluder entrances instead of crescents in other gourds they are easy to carve with a Dremel drum sander (wear mask/lots of dust). Also check your local Wal Mart types for Rubbermaid Twist&Seal storage bowls. They make great inspection covers. The 2 cup size has a 4” screw on lid and the bowl has a cupped ring below the base of the lid that fits outside a 4” hole drilled/sawed in the gourd for inspection cover. The cupped ring filled with silicon makes a neat tight seal. The ring also has two lips that can be drilled for small attachment bolts to securely hold it is place. Just make sure that the gourd and any painted surface is dry before applying silicon. I use a Dremel cutting wheel (scissors can be used) to cut around the bowls at or near the top of the Rubbermaid logo. I like them because they can be securely bolted & siliconed and the lids twist on and off. The only down side is, they do have to be painted but they hold paint well. Entrance canopies can also be cut from plastics or metals and bolted/siliconed in place. You build em and be patient. The Martins will sort out the rest.

The gourds under the Trios are working well. I have all of them firmly mounted and anchored to the Trios and poles to prevent movement. I'm currently working on a 24 gourd rack. However, several of the gourds are last seasons crop and are not cured enough to complete. Those big thick gourds can take several months to completely cure. Good luck with your project.

[Don~VA]

Thanks again for the good tips James. I hope to keep them a long time as they are really nice with good thick walls. I carved my entrances with a Dremel also and may try the clinger entrance on my next batch. That's a good tip on the Twist & Seal bowls. I've seen them in stores but never thought to use them. The ones I purchased were a little costly but the bad part is that the top will not tighten without popping off. I put electrical tape around the rim but it only helps slightly. Wish I had known about this earlier. I also painted and used roofing paper to make inserts for the lids to keep the light out. That worked real well. Now if I can only get that last part working - Patience